Toughest game retrieval situation?

[Lucas269]

I have one. The very first deer I killed was a doe south of Prince George BC. I was with my dad heading down a narrow trail in a little mazda pickup. We rounded a corner into a clearing and there were two does standing about 50 yards ahead of us. This clearing was long but not wide with a steep hill going up on our right and a steeper hill going down on our left. There was minimal brush compared to the surrounding area but the trees on the hills were pretty dense. The does started moving toward the trees on the downhill side after we rounded the corner. When I saw them I was out of the truck before it even stopped moving with rifle in one hand and fumbling with a cartridge in the other. I loaded the cartridge, shouldered the rifle, and fired at the second doe. She tensed and hunched up a little then bolted straight ahead. At the point where the hill sharply transitioned down she stumbled and fell then tumbled to the bottom. She had broken ribs and was twisted up pretty bad at the bottom. I looked at my dad and saw a very unique expression that day of both joy and anger simultaneously. Because it had been raining most of the day the hill was mostly muck and a lot of it steep enough that you could stand upright in most places and be touching the hill in front of you with your hands. The deer was shot around dusk so the retrieval was in the dark. I don't remember how long it took but even as a spry teenager I was completely worn out by the time I got it to the truck. I know now that there are a lot better ways to get a deer up a hill than dragging it up whole(minus guts) by the legs but I was dumb and excited and my dad was obviously happy enough watching me struggle. He did help a lot but he was dedicated to me learning by doing and really a strong back is all I had to contribute at that time. I've been very lucky since then and haven't had any retrievals interesting enough to mention other than that. That one isn't nearly as grueling as some peoples that they have shared here but I like telling the story and it's not every day your kill tries to commit suicide before the bullet can do it's work.